Q&A: Julian Higuera-Florez on Harnessing Environmental Peacebuilding in Latin America and the Caribbean

Feb 25, 2025 | Angus Soderberg
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Environmental peacebuilding offers a promising framework to address deeply intertwined environmental challenges and conflict dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean. So why has it not delivered fully on this promise? In an interview with ESCP, Julian Higuera-Florez, a research specialist in climate, peace, and security at the Alliance of Biodiversity and CIAT and CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security, discussed a new policy brief, Environmental Peacebuilding in Latin America and the Caribbean: Bridging Gaps and Harnessing Opportunities, co-authored with the UNDP Latin America and the Caribbean Hub.

Higuera-Florez and his co-authors examine environmental peacebuilding’s ability to foster cooperation, strengthen governance, and build climate resilience—while also acknowledging its limitations in broader regional effectiveness. He says stronger evidence on environmental peacebuilding’s successes and the role of local and community-based solutions is needed and offers his key takeaways from recent international forums that tackled these issues.